Elkins is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He has blue eyes, gray hair and a distinctive "Fu Manchu"-style moustache, wears silver glasses for reading and walks with a limp, DPS said. He also has been known to shave his head.

According to authorities, Elkins was believed to be on foot but has worked as a long-distance truck driver and would fit in at a truck stop.

Court records show Elkins has prior convictions on charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated sexual assault and sexual battery. He has also been arrested for indecent liberties with a child, forcible rape, aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping.

The halfway house, owned and operated by GEO Group in Florida, was formerly called the Ben A. Reid Community Correctional Facility.

In April, another "high-risk" sexual offender, 42-year-old Michael Elbert Young, escaped from the same facility. Authorities at the time said he climbed over a barbed wire-topped fence and detached an electronic tracking monitor from his ankle.

According to published reports, Elkins is the sixth person since October 2010 to escape the halfway house.